1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surgical suture retainer and, more particularly, to a retainer for a suture reel dispenser.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Suture dispensers featuring a reel for storing a quantity of suture material have been developed to provide a desired length of suture material free of kinks or other irregularities, which can be used immediately without the need for straightening or similar preparative manipulation. In many of these known suture reel dispensers, a suture reel is rotatably seated within an outer casing and rotates to allow a desired length of suture to be played out.
Packaging of suture reel dispensers require that the reel dispensers be properly secured as well as being simply and quickly removable from their packages for use by the surgeon. U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,238 to Taylor describes a conventional reel dispenser retainer or package for a suture reel dispenser, which includes a molded-in plastic depth tray having a circular cavity for receiving a suture reel and a lid which is sealed about the periphery of the tray. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,568,949 to Berger et al. and 3,545,608 to Berger et al. each describes a similar type package.
Although the molded-type tray retainers have proved to be adequate for storing and preserving the sterile qualities of a reel dispenser, there remains several significant problems with these retainers, foremost of which is that the reel dispenser packaged in a molded-type tray retainer is not easily passed to the surgeon during surgical procedures and is not in a position to be readily accessed by the surgeon. Furthermore, once the reel dispenser is removed from the tray retainer, the relative small size of the reel makes it difficult to handle.
Accordingly, the novel retainer of the present invention effectively stores a suture reel dispenser while also providing for ready accessibility of the dispenser during operating room procedures, and provides a means for easily handling a suture reel dispenser without risk of dropping the reel or unraveling the loaded suture material.